TMB Photos - Day 2

TMB - Day 9: Chamonix

Although not complete my Tour Du Mont Blanc is over, what an absolute roller-coaster of emotions it has been - any one reading this blog has read a considerablely toned down version of those emotions.
Now I can look at things retrospectively there is only one real regret and that is that initially I only allowed 9 days to complete the walk, has I allowed 10 days I may have completed the entire route - although having lost an entire day because of the weather even that may not have been enough.
I can say without any doubt that the moment of the trip was the summit of Grand Col Ferret, a genuinely beautiful place but combined with a massive release of built-up emotion.
As I tried to sleep last night I was trying decide which of the 3 countries I've visited on this trip was my favourite, it was close between France and Switzerland but the Swiss just have it - if Courmayeur had a campsite the Italians may have stolen it because Val Ferret is sensational pretty, the feedback on the Facebook photo from my tent suggests that I am not the only person to agree with that sentiment.
After my dodgy campsite last night it was early up and out this morning, to my suprise today is the 50th anniversary of the Mont Blanc tunnel and as a result my bus ticket to Chamonix was free.
I had to kill 3 hours in Chamonix before my train departed for annecy, my home for the next 2 nights. Chamonix is a really nice, surrounded on both sides by the mountains but also really well architected and elegant place. I'm guessing that it's an expensive place to live, the lunch I bought certainly was not cheap.
I am presently on the train to Annecy and should be arriving soon, I shall continue to update if anything exciting happens.
Here's another picture, not sure which one just yet. 

TMB - Day 8: Courmayeur (100km)

Journey's end, or so I thought!
It would seem that despite being quite a big town there is not a campsite for miles and the public transport stops at at about 5pm, it would also appear to be full of rich people - all 3 things mean that instead of heading back towards Chamonix I'm having to do a spot of cheeky wild-camping just outside the town.
Todays walk was fairly straight forward, no real menaces, although I was definitely starting to feel the milage in the legs and the finsl descent into Courmayeur wasn't much fun.
Tomorrow is the next part of the challange, getting back to France so I can continue with the rest of my trip.
Here's a nice photo of Mont Blanc for you to enjoy!

TMB - Day 8: Rifugio Bonatti (87km)

The view this morning was amazing and worth the horrific night in the tent. It is now lunch time and, although the sun is shining, the wind is ferocious. It is at least blowing in the general direction I'm heading.
It should be only about 4 more hours to Courmayeur and the end of my walk, it will, at least, be nice to finish in sushine the way it started. Hopefully the last thing I see on the trail will be Mont Blanc, the sky is cloud-free at the moment so hopefully it will stay that way!

TMB - Day 8: In a tent, on a mountain, freezing (85km)

So this would appear to be my last day walking the TMB and what a way to stsrt, I knew when I pitched the tent last night that I was at an altitude where it would be considerably below zero.
It is now 5.45am and I have just had to make an emergency pee break, the temperature inside the tent is 3.5 degrees and I've slowly put more layers on during the night. I am in my sleeping bag wearing everything I had on yesterday, jacket, hat, gloves, the lot.
Going to try a bit more sleep, it'll be a few hours yet before the sun is high enough to warm this side of the valley :(

TMB - Day 7: nr. Rifugio Bonatti (85km)

Wow, wow, wow, the Grand Col Ferret. I came so close to bottling-out of this, after yesterdays weather and the forecast of snow at the top combined with sub-xero temperatures I really didn't fancy this climb. I've been up plenty of lesser climbs and been scared to death by sheer cliffs and this one has snow on it, to make matters worse for the past 2 nights I've had dreams which involved me falling of mountain ledges - the joy of vertigo! The truth of it is that there were no precarious cliffs or dodgy mountain passes just the most stunning scenery I can recall, it is such an amazing place and I'm so pleased I had the guts to do it. I've lucky enough to see some spectacular things up here so far but this eclipses the rest hands-down. I should also mention that it is impossible to do justice to something like this with a camera, even more difficult when the camera in question (already fixed once) dies again! A Russian camera that fails in cold weather, am I the first person to see the obvious design-flaw in that! Luckily I was still able to capture some images although it was such a strong wind at the peak it was barely possible to stand up let along take pictures. The path down from the Col leads down into the Ferret Valley and Italian soil for the first time. It is on the east side of the valley at 2000m where I am now camped - back to wild-camping, all luxuries are gone again. Tent temperature is currently 3 degrees but it'll be worth it for the view I wake up to tomorrow morning :)

TMB - Day 7: Le Peule (71km)

My fears of today have thankfully, thus far, not materialised and I am already over 2000m. The last refuge before I head up and over the Grand Col is a beauful converted farm building which now serves as a restaurant, unfortunately it has been over-run by a huge crowd of Americans who seem to have adopted the English approach of asking louder until you get want you want.
Sat outside in the sun but as was predicted the wind had reduced temperatures to well below freezing, had a really nice hot chocolate with a ham and cheese sandwich so everything is great. Only 500m to the summit, that's 500m up, probably 3km in actual distance. The snow is settled at something like 2200m so I'll be needing the snow shoes :)